Ziplines and Catapults
by CuffedBunnies
Summary: A few things off of Rick's bucket list, and maybe something more. One shot. Complete.


**Ziplines and Catapults  
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**Disclaimer: **Last I checked, they belonged to ABC of Borg.**  
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**Summary: **A little silliness dealing with Rick's bucket list.**  
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**A/N: **Not sure where this came from, but it had to be written, so... I wrote it. Hope it makes you laugh! I know I did... ;) Also, feedback is awesome.

I'd like to give a special shout-out to my friends at TOH for their help with one of the details. Trust me, it made a HUGE difference! Thanks, y'all! **  
**

_For Li, my bestie. You know it's something special when a person puts up with your insanity, then helps you find a deeper level of it. LOL _

* * *

Castle hums a tune as he checks and re-checks the fastenings on his harness. He's finally happy with them so he tugs gently on the wire connecting his loft to the apartment across the street. It all looks good, and he smiles, anticipating this new experience.

He checks out the view from his balcony... a view that is going to be so much different in just a matter of minutes. He can barely contain himself. _ This is going to be so awesome!_

When Alexis comes to his side, he kisses her gently on the cheek. "How goes things upstairs?"

His daughter smiles, but doesn't quite manage to keep from rolling her eyes at him. "The catapult is armed and ready when you are."

She lays her hands on his shoulders and looks him straight in the eye. "Are you sure you want to do this, Dad? I mean, shouldn't you have to get some sort of permit or something before you try a stunt like this? Maybe have a safety mat or a trampoline or something on the ground in case something doesn't work?"

Oh, his ever-responsible daughter. "I probably should, but I'm only doing this once. What's to worry about?" He really doesn't care... he knows he has connections if the police get involved. And even if the connections don't come through, he's got money for bail. "Besides, we've already gone over this, haven't we?"

"Yeah, we have. I guess I just can't believe you talked me into this." The corner of her mouth quirks upward, "Here," she clips the small walkie talkie mic to the collar of his silver and green jumpsuit, then gives him the ear buds to put on. He quickly puts them into his ears as she steps away, back into the loft.

Then, as she clips on her own mic and tucks the buds into her ears, she says "Testing, testing, one, two..."

"Rodger, Dodger," Castle answers. Her voice is loud and clear, and it kind of makes him giddy... this is really going to happen. "Go to the roof and try again. I want to make sure we take off at the same time."

"All right," she answers, and the connection is quiet for a time while he checks everything (again). This has to be perfect.

There's a slight crackling sound when his daughter's voice breaks the silence. "On the roof. Can you hear me now?"

"Awesome!" he breathes, then louder for the mic, "Yes, I hear you! I'm thinking we give this about two minutes before I take off. Sound good to you?"

"Whatever you say, Dad. I'll take the time to recheck everything."

He reminds her, "The most important thing is to make sure the cow is set and ready! Oh! and be sure to watch which of us makes it to the other building first."

"I know, Dad, I know." He can practically hear her eyes rolling. Again.

He smiles, "Thanks, Pumpkin, for helping me with this. You have no idea what it means to me..."

"Oh, I've got a pretty good idea," she answers, "I do inherit the loft if you don't come through, so it's all good."

"Gee, thanks," Rick chuckles to himself as he snaps the clip to his harness onto the zipline. The clock's ticking, and he can't wait.

"It's all checked and waiting on your call," Alexis replies after a few moments.

It's now or never.

Castle smiles again, breathes in a deep lungful of air. "We go in five seconds, on my mark."

"I'm at the trigger," she answers, "and Dad? Be careful."

"Hey, this is me!" he laughs, the first wave of adrenaline makes him a little punch-drunk.

He can hear her nervous laughter on the other end, "Yeah, I know."

"I'll see you in a few minutes." Castle takes a deep breath to steel himself, then begins...

"Five..." He steps onto the edge of the balcony.

"Four..." It's SO freakin' far down to the ground... he did check the zipline to make sure it's secure, right?

"Three..." Oh, this isn't such a good idea...

"Two.." What is he thinking? This is probably one of the stupidest...

"One!" Here goes nothing... _please don't let me die..._

He pushes off with a shriek, and the moment his feet leave the solid of the building, his fear is replaced with exhilaration. Movement from above catches his eye and he sees fifty feet or so above his head is the life-sized stuffed cow, tumbling head over tail, also aimed at his destination across the street.

"YES!" He yells, "This is SO AWESOME!"

* * *

Kate is walking toward Castle's loft, hoping to catch him there. It's her day off, and being alone at her apartment isn't working for her today, so she figures she'll see what he has going on.

It's quiet, for a typical New York day, yet she swears she can hear "awesome" being yelled from above. Her gut tells her it can only be Castle. Curiosity has its hold on her, and maybe a little terror, at what she's about to witness, but she looks up anyway...

... And can't possibly take in what's going on above her head.

There he is, in some sort of green and silver suit, complete with a cape billowing behind him. He's sliding down a zipline toward a balcony on the building across the street. And there is something else - an animal of some sort? - hurtling through the air toward the same building.

What the hell is going on? And why, for that matter...

She doesn't know if she should run to the next building to make sure he's okay, keep walking and pretend she doesn't know/doesn't care, or just laugh.

It's over in less than a minute, but still - What was he thinking?

Kate takes a deep breath, counts to ten, then nonchalantly scans the area, watching the witnesses to Castle's show of insanity.

Thankfully, no cars are stopped, and it seems only a handful of people are still looking up. Most are on their cells. She wonders how many of them are 911 calls, because she knows he didn't make any kind of arrangements for this... he's lucky the streets aren't cluttering into a panic.

Her phone rings. It's Esposito.

It's been less than thirty seconds, and they already know. "Beckett," she answers.

"Hey," he says, "Something just came across the board..."

"Let me guess. A flying animal and someone ziplining from Castle's building?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"It was Castle." She knows she won't ever hear the end of this. "I just witnessed the event myself. Is there any way to make this disappear before they send uniforms?"

"Are you sure it was him?"

"Espo, his bucket list has 'buy the apartment across the street' followed by 'install zipline.' Who else could it be?"

"Seriously?" He laughs, "Dude has finally lost it, I guess. Yeah, Ryan and I will do what we can to get the uniforms called back and make this go away, but tell WriterBoy he owes us big time."

She smiles, "I know." _He owes me after this as well._

Castle lands on the balcony directly across from the loft, then his head pops over the edge, fists above his head, yelling, "YEAH!"

Rolling her eyes, she runs across the street, flashing her badge to stop the oncoming traffic as she does so, and enters the building.

The doorman sees her badge and asks how he can assist her.

She's stern, but polite. "I need to know what apartment is owned by Richard Castle."

He nods, as if he knows exactly what's going through her mind. "That would be apartment 1047. Take the elevator up to the tenth, and it's the second door to the right."

Kate thanks him and jumps into the elevator. The machine takes forever to get to the floor, but when it finally does, she's out of it before the doors are halfway open.

Second door to the right... she bangs on it, wishing she could just burst through. "CASTLE! OPEN UP!"

The door opens almost immediately, "Kate, hi! You know, you don't have to yell, right? I'll always let you in."

"Are you CRAZY?" she pokes him on the chest, hard. "What the hell was that?"

"OUCH!" He rubs the place where she just poked him. "You saw?" When he smiles, it calms her some, knowing he's unharmed, but he still has to open his mouth. "And the cow? - It's not real, by the way - I'm about to check on it.. see what kind of mess it made on the roof. Wanna come along?"

She's about to tell him what he can do with the cow and his childish schemes when her phone rings. "We're not finished," she says to him, then answers her phone.

"Beckett."

It's Esposito, again. "You shouldn't see any uniforms. Castle lucked out this time, but he better not do it again. Ryan and I have turned in so many favors, we'll still be paying these people back long after we're dead."

"Noted. I'll tell him. Thanks, Espo." She cut the line and stared hard at Rick.

"Do you know what the team just went through to keep you out of trouble?" God, he's giving her the same shit-eater he did when he asked for the crime scene pics, not quite three years ago. "I'll take that as a 'no,' so let me tell you: You owe the guys for calling off the uniforms that were being sent here. You really freaked out a lot of people, Castle-"

He raises his hand to stall her, "It's my last silly stunt of this magnitude, I promise."

"What?" Kate stops, not quite understanding what he's saying. It's not quite what she expects from him. "I mean, good."

"Yeah, I wanted to get that out of my system." The way he's looking at her... the air conditioner must not be working properly. "You see, there's someone special to me, someone I'd like to impress, and this is the final plunge for me before I straighten up my act."

It takes her a moment, but she finally finds her voice. "You shouldn't change like that for someone."

His eyes were glittering in amusement, "Yeah, but when dealing with the NYPD, I figure I should at least try to stay on the straight-and-narrow. From now on, I'm going to do my best."

"And for what it's worth, Alexis informed me that the cow beat me over here." Castle shrugs and reaches a hand toward her, "I guess I can't win them all... but hey, you wanna go back to the loft with me? I've got a suit in here that just might fit you. I had it in case Alexis wanted to give the zipline a try."

When her eyebrows shoot up, he finishes, smiling, "But, after this, I'll have it taken down."

"Then.. what about the cow?" She can't believe the question just fell out of her mouth.

He laughs, then answers, "We'll walk back in a little while and pick up the stuffing, if it exploded on impact. It's really no big deal. I bet it just bounced around when it landed. Now, are you with me or not?"

Her heart skips a beat, and she knows it's time to follow instead of lead. "Right behind you, Writerboy."


End file.
